Please note, because Margaret K. Lewis School does not serve any students educated in the general curriculum, there are no regular education teachers on staff.  Thus, a zero was used to indicate the Benchmark of Quality (#1) for “Team has broad representation.”

How does your team use data to make decisions on campus? Following initial training in School-wide PBS, the original Margaret K. Lewis School PBS Team in cooperation with the faculty decided “Loss of Instructional Time (LIT)” was the best indicator of success toward achieving the school-wide expectations.  Thus, anytime a student is unable to access instruction for 10 consecutive minutes or more due to behavioral interference, behavioral details are recorded.  The LIT Report is reviewed by the school administrator the day the LIT occurs.  The data is entered in a data based system created exclusively for the school with the purpose of review by indicators such as behavior demonstrated, location, teacher, department, time of day, unusual circumstances, staff involved, duration, treatment of injury by nurse for staff/student/peers, antecedent/contributing factors, behavior intervention plan in place, need for a Child Study Team meeting and consequence.  Reports are reviewed as part of the Functional Behavior Assessment process for individual students.  Individual reports are reviewed at Child Study Team and Individual Education Plan meetings with the intent of developing data based programs to address behavioral excesses or deficits.  Individual reports are also provided to parents and other professionals (psychiatrists, home-based behavior analysts, psychologists, etc.) if parent or adult student has given permission to release the information.  It is not uncommon for a parent to request a son or daughter’s LIT report prior to going to the physician; a clear indication the parent and physician also rely on the information to address health related and medicinal issues.  Last but not least, LIT information is reviewed by the PBS Team when determining the extent of success of PBS Team initiatives.

Please note, the PBS team for Margaret K. Lewis School carefully considered the type of data necessary for reviewing general trends among and between groups of students in order to reduce time lost from instruction due to behavioral interference.  In an effort to retrieve accurate and timely information, the PBS Team pinpointed exactly what input was necessary to make competent decisions for both the individual student as well as groups of students.  Therefore, a zero was used to indicate the Benchmark of Quality (#10) for “Discipline referral form information useful in decision making.”  The Margaret K. Lewis School LIT report does not include grade level, gender, or administrative decision (which is typically pre-planned as part of the Behavior Intervention Plan).

How do you share information with the rest of your faculty (e.g., emails, newsletters, meetings, etc.)?  How often do you share this information? Loss of Instructional Time information is reported by department and shared with PBS Team members at the time of the PBS Team meeting.  General trends and individual tendencies are noted and decisions are made in order to resolve both novel and repetitive concerns.  Individual concerns are addressed through other problem-solving vehicles such as reviewing the behavior intervention plan with the teacher or other members of the student’s Individual Education Plan team.  Additionally, overall, non-confidential LIT data is shared with all employees through the weekly staff newsletter.

What do you see as the overall strengths of your team?  Please provide details. The Margaret K. Lewis School PBS Team is flexible, focused, imaginative and inspired.   Implementing school-wide PBS is a revolving re-invention of the proverbial wheel in order to make the wheel spin for us.  That is, while the opportunities and directives for a school-wide approach are ordained they must still be modified to meet the needs of students with significant cognitive impairments and accompanying secondary disabilities.   Not only did the PBS team have to clearly define characteristics to be studied, it was also necessary to implement instructional strategies to teach somewhat abstract concepts – Successful, Optimistic Ambitious and Responsible – as behavioral expectations.  While determining how to teach corresponding behaviors was a daunting task, PBS Team members creatively developed lesson plans for students aged three to 22 years to teach students how to be successful, optimistic, ambitious and responsible.  Teaching students to not only recite the Eagle Pledge but also to demonstrate examples of behaviors that exemplify the expectations required tenacity and determination.  Assessing students’ understanding using sign language, eye gaze, verbalization and picture exchange was phenomenally rewarding to the staff as they experienced the success of the students demonstrating skills thought to be too abstract to grasp intellectually.  This result is the reward of implementing school-wide PBS – the pure pleasure and delight of mastering a concept or skill is reflected in the teacher or paraprofessionals’ eyes.  All celebrate. 
 

In what areas of PBS does your team excel (e.g., rewarding students/staff, teaching expectations, data-based decision-making, etc.)?  Please provide details below. When contemplating the answer to this question regarding areas of excellence of the Margaret K. Lewis School PBS Team, what leaps forward is the team’s ability to persevere.  The conclusion of the 2007-2008 school year marks three years of involvement with school-wide PBS.  In this time, the team has continually motivated faculty, staff and students to reinforce the behavioral expectations and rules developed.  As each goal is jubilantly reached and celebrated further objectives are engaged.  Consequently, Margaret K. Lewis School is not a school with a PBS Team, we are a PBS School.

Discuss the changes you have seen on campus since PBS implementation (e.g., data, climate, morale, etc.). The Margaret K. Lewis School PBS Team is to be commended for accomplishing many tasks this school year; however, the team’s greatest achievement has been its ability to inspire the nearly 100 employees to embrace the behavioral expectations in word and in deed.   More than two-thirds of the school personnel are not teachers yet all have managed to welcome and support the behavioral expectations through purposeful instruction and modeling.  When visitors enter the school, they are immediately faced with the physical evidence of the PBS initiatives yet, better still, as visitors begin to interact with the adults and with the students, it is clear both possess “Eagle Pride” and will readily share their SOARing (Successful, Optimistic, Ambitious, Responsible) endeavors and accomplishments.  With pride, instructors will share what the students have learned and how they have SOARed as a result.   The evidence of the embracing of this imbedded philosophy indicates PBS is more than just something the PBS Team does; it is part of what we are – MKL Eagles! 

What are some obstacles that your team has had to overcome?  Please explain the process for overcoming these hurdles below. The greatest obstacle the PBS Team has had to overcome this school year has in fact resulted in making PBS stronger for the school overall.  When working with students with significant cognitive disabilities, there are many professional opinions involved in planning and preparing students for success.  One initiative for the PBS Team for this school year was to develop a pledge incorporating the concepts adopted as behavioral expectations.  The pledge was adopted by all staff during pre-school inservice and classroom teachers were encouraged to use the pledge as a tool to teach the expectations on a daily basis.   In addition, the Eagle Pledge was stated over the intercom and students were taught to respond to the directives, “Attention” (stop what you are doing) and “Pledge” (stand, if you are able; raise your right hand, if you are able and hold your head high).  Students even provided the announcer with suggestions such as, “Slow down; I can’t read that fast;” during the initial stages of learning.  Soon, the concerns arose.  Historically, the Pledge of Allegiance and the National Anthem have been delivered within classrooms individually as opposed to via the intercom to make the activity more meaningful.  For example, in classes where students are learning to stand, standing to hold the flag during the National Anthem is a functional way of practicing moving from a sit to stand position.  Likewise, students learning to use a voice output device can practice that skill by saying the “Pledge of Allegiance” with an augmentative communication system.  For this reason, some teachers requested the Eagle Pledge not be announced over the intercom and instead be incorporated with other whole group activities.  Another concern was expressed by the speech-language pathologists.  That is, the rate of recitation of the Eagle Pledge was not consistent with normal speaking rhythms.  Yet, literacy instructors had concerns with increasing the cadence making it more difficult for emerging readers to follow along.  Through anonymous surveys and open discussions, faculty were able to contribute ideas and compromises were made that were in the end in the best interest of students.  What could have resulted in an awkward state of affairs or hurt feelings instead ended with feelings of camaraderie and acknowledged respect of professional opinions.